Terrors
by Iellix
Summary: A new enemy has arrived, one which no one seems to know anything about. They are terrifying creatures--and they've captured Yuffie. To what lengths will Leon go to get her back? And what will these enemies do to Yuffie?
1. The Unknowns

Wow… I can't say I din' like the attention I got with my _last_ (or I suppose you could call it my first) attempt at a romance fic. In fact I'm writing another. (Duh.) This time however, things are a little different: it doesn't take place in Traverse Town (except at the beginning and at the end), Yuffie and Leon _start out_ as a couple (this is not a fic in which they can't get over their differences and have trouble telling each other that they're in love), and there won't be very much fluff 'til the middle/and, but when it does, I'll try an' add extra fluff for making you wait. Enough of my blathering. I talk too much…

If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I would long since have taken the glory. Unfortunately, Squaresoft beat me to it. Dang.

                                                                                                  ~*~

Darkness… it was always dark in Traverse town, but now it was nearly pitch black and impossible to make out anything with unaided eyes. It only meant one thing—the Unknowns were on their way into the town again. Ever since the Heartless had disappeared, these things had shown up, and proved to be more terrifying than the Heartless had been. They had no distinct characteristics; they came in a wide range of sizes, from the size of a small rodent to the height of two full-grown men standing atop one another. They had no other definite traits. They were disgusting things, never holding one shape for long, molding their bodies into parts of different creatures, holding it for a moment, and shifting again. They could sink down like puddles of shifting colors and flow easily across the ground, winding themselves around unsuspecting victims and devouring them.

          Yuffie stayed hidden behind an alley wall, glancing at the door leading to the town. People were panicking, trying to get themselves inside and away from the danger, although they didn't seem to realize that the Unknowns would follow them or find them if they wanted to. She waited for them to come, knowing that outside was the safest place for her to be—inside she would be a sitting duck, easy to corner, easy to kill.

          She didn't have long to wait—the doors burst open, blowing a sharp wind, debris, and lumps of various sizes into the streets. Unknowns began their assaults, shifting their forms and selecting targets. She hid herself back in the alley and shivered. She couldn't watch this—the shifting shapes and colors made her feel ill. _Very_ ill. And she was terrified of them. With the Heartless she was scared, but not so scared that she didn't fight them. At least she had a clear target. But with the Unknowns, they changed their shapes and flowed from one place to another very quickly, making them difficult to hit, even for someone like her.

          She heard Cloud yelling and charging after them—_he_ wasn't scared of them. Through the unnatural, sickening cries of the creatures, she also heard Leon's Gunblade as he, too, joined the fight. She looked, now, hoping that they would be all right, that nothing would happen. She looked just in time to see him slice in half one Unknown that was his size, shaped with a snakes' head, lions' forequarters, bears' hindquarters, and legs like a giant lizard. It dissolved into a puddle and melted away, just as they all did when killed. She felt something behind her, turned around, and _shrieked._

          Another Unknown had crept up behind her. It towered seven feet tall with a serpentine head with teeth far too big to fit into the mouth. It had too many arms, each like an octopus, but instead of suction discs on the bottom, lined with heavy spines. The body was unrecognizable—a cross between a giant spider and something with hooves. It reared, leashing at her with two of it's many arms.

          The things' size slowed it down, giving her the advantage of her speed over it, but quick as she was, she couldn't escape being lashed by the spines lining the underside of the tentacles. She barely noticed it and rolled out into the street, whipping one of her shurikens at it and hitting it in the stomach. It screamed loudly and came after her, lashing at her again, but, thankfully, missing her. She threw more of her ammunition at it, getting it once in the shoulder, slicing one leg off, and hitting it low on its' body. It was still coming. Yuffie whimpered, climbing backwards onto some crates to escape it, but it was no use—it had her cornered.

          "Please," she whispered. "Please, just go away. Give up. Go away." She was shaking so badly that she almost couldn't access her weapons. One last hit got it between the eyes, and it fell to the ground, where it thrashed, spilling multicolored blood onto the ground, changing shapes rapidly. It loosed one last, agonized, piercing scream that made her nose bleed before it stilled and melted away. A handful of small ones had heard the racket and came to get a free meal—most of the little creatures were smart enough to know that they couldn't get meals by themselves, but they could scavenge on what their larger, stronger counterparts had weakened or killed. This time, she was a little more ready.

          The steadily shifting bodies moved closer to her, one taking on a pair of batlike wings and flying up to catch her in the back of the neck with talons that were too large for its' diminutive size. She swung her arm around at it, shoving it into a wall and crashing the place where its' skull was at that point. It melted on her arm, burning like acid. She cursed blackly but had no time to tend it—two more had climbed the crates. One she kicked off; the other went with a swipe of a shuriken across the throat.

          With her share of Unknowns out of the way, she listened for what was happening out of her sight, but things had quieted. She heard Cloud yelling out Aeriths' name, running to find where she had hidden. Yuffie prayed to anything listening that everyone was safe. She heard someone running in her direction.

          "Yuffie!" The footsteps stopped, turned around, and came back again. "Yuffie, dammit, where are you? Please be all right…"

          "Define 'all right,'" she called back, indicating to Leon both where she was and that she was still in one piece. She started inching down the crates. Her back and shoulders throbbed where she had been hit several times, and her arm still burned where the acid of the dead Unknown had seared her. She missed her footing and fell to the ground.

          In a few seconds, Leon appeared at the entrance to the alley, becoming a long shadow and an ominous silhouette. He ran down to the edge of the alley to meet her as she stood up. He didn't look as though he were in very good condition, either, but he wasn't concerned about himself. He stumbled over on the damp ground to see her. She looked up at him, struggling to smile.

          "Give me a hand up?" She asked. He took both of her hands and pulled her up, going to support her back with one hand, only to have her yelp and plowed her face into his chest. He frowned and looked at his hand: it was covered in blood. Her blood. He looked over her shoulder at huge lashes dripping blood all down her back, and starting to trickle down her thighs. He also noticed the burn on her arm.

          "Don't ever do that again," he whispered, holding her around her shoulders where she wasn't scratched up. She pulled away.

          "Do _what?"_ She asked, confused.

          "Whatever you did to get yerself hurt like this. I dunno what the hell you did, but don' _ever_ do it again." He kissed her forehead, then traveled down further to her lips. When he tightened his grip around her, she tore herself away from him, eyes clenched shut. Without having second thoughts about anything, he took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, leading her back to the hotel where Cloud, Aerith, and Cid already waited.

          _"There_ you guys are," Cid had a relieved tone in his voice as he spoke to the pair. "We was starting to get worried 'bout you." He was in good shape—better than good shape. He must have hidden for this round. Aerith, too, bore no signs of confrontation with the Unknowns. She usually _did_ hide from them—on Clouds' orders.

          "What happened to _you?"_ Cloud directed his question at Leon after seeing the blood on his hands, arms, and shirt, but it mostly wasn't his—it was Yuffies'. The blonde also bore combat wounds from his fight with the Unknowns—a heavily bandaged shoulder that bled on both sides (he must have been speared through) and a hand held a cloth to a cut on his forehead that kept dripping blood into his eye.

          "Ferget me—Yufie needs some patching up." He gently pulled his jacket from her shoulders. When the girl turned a little to look at him, Aerith saw her wounds.

          "You can swoon later," she informed her. "Let me clean you up before those get infected!" She pulled her away, finding her a shirt to put on just her arms to cover up as Aerith cleaned out the wounds. Having stripped off her own shirt so that her back (and her wounds) were accessible, Yuffie kept the shirt on her arms and pulled up and keep herself decent.

          "Where do those things keep _coming_ from?" Aerith asked as she worked.

          "I've told you before—I dunno. No one seems to know. They just kinda… popped up. Uninvited." Cloud replaced the blood soaked clothed with a new one. "It _seems_ like someone keeps makin' more of 'em, or else there's some world or unknown place where they're being transported from."

          Cid sighed heavily. "I'm outta here. I'd like to get some sleep 'fore those things come _back_ an' I gotta go hide or fight." He left the Red Room to go to his own room down the hall. The rest of them stayed silent for a while as Aerith finished her work on Yuffie. Although she had used Curgra on her wounds _and_ Clouds', the injuries sustained during fights with the Unknowns didn't heal easily. The nasty gashes were sealed, but were still heavily bruised and painful.

          "That's the best that I could do," she said apologetically. Yuffie gave her an overly grateful smile.

          "Don't be so hard on yerself," she told her friend. "I feel so damn much better now than I did a few minutes ago." She slid the shirt on the rest of the way and picked up what remained of her old shirt. When she stood, the thick cotton shirt came down to her knees. She looked at Cloud. "You prob'ly want this back."

          He looked at it. "Keep it as long as you need it," he said. He leaned his head back and took the cloth from his cut again. It wasn't bleeding so badly anymore, but blood had matted itself into his hair and onto his skin, staining him. Aerith looked at him, extremely worried, but she said nothing and stayed where she was. Yuffie looked at Leon and jerked her head towards their door, mouthing the words, "Come on." Unnoticed, they slipped away. As she shut the door, Yuffie saw Aerith fall into Clouds' lap with her head buried in her arms.

          "Geez," she whispered, leaning on the door as much as she could without hurting herself. "Poor Aerith. She's so scared…"

          "And you aren't?" Leon asked coolly.

          "No, actually, I'm not," she answered, just as nonchalantly. He stared at her, and she continued. "I'm completely, utterly _terrified._ I just hide it better." She shivered and closed her eyes. She felt very sleepy suddenly and almost nodded off.

          "Go to bed, Yuffie."

          She stumbled over, falling onto the mattress as her knees gave out. She looked up at him as he watched out the window. "You comin'?"

          "Eventually." He looked over at her as she drifted off to sleep. "Sweet dreams."

                                                                                                  ~*~

How have I written so freakin' much? Ah well, who cares. You people love reading my stuff—admit it! Aren't my made-up villains, like, sooo awesome? I thought they were creepy. Remember how much reviews speed up chapters? Well—review! Yes, this is L/Y, but most of it won't take place in Traverse, and the fluff scenes will be on and off until the middle/end. You'll see what I mean later. I don' wanna ruin the s'prise!

*holds self against the door to hold Leon/Aerith fans at bay* Geez, these guys dunno when to _stop!_ We gotta get a tranquilizer gun and some water buffalo sedatives.           


	2. Captured

FanFiction is being one hell of a bitch—_again._ And seeing as I have no homework, no life, and nothing better to do, I'll write a new chapter. Yahoo. Party on, babes!

Now, now, children, let's all say it together—the VL does _not_ own Kingdom Hearts or any characters used in it! [But the wicked, mean, nasty, _horrible_ Unknowns are my own creations!]

Ugh… dinner did _not_ settle well in my tummy. I dun feel so good… *turns green*

                                                                                                   ~*~

Instead of light waking her up, Yuffie was awakened by a sudden chill. She thought little of it and curled closer to Leon who lay fast asleep next to her, warm breath on the back of her neck. She started drifting off again when, slowly, everything got darker and darker. She sat bolt upright, eyes wide.

          _Oh, no,_ panicked thoughts raced through her mind. _Not now. Not _again._ Not so soon!_ She scrambled out of bed, feeling frigid air pass over her skin. She almost dove back under the covers with Leon, but instead willed herself to put shirt of her own on underneath the one that belonged to Cloud, which she was still wearing.

          Now dressed and armed, she got down on her knees next to Leon and shook him. "Leon, get up," she whispered harshly. "C'mon, Leon, wakeup! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!" She shook him violently and he sat up, holding her arms from shaking him.

          "This had better be good," he said blackly. When he realized who he was talking to, he let her go and sat upright. "Sorry. What's up? Why're you waking me up s'damn early? What time is it anyway? It's dar—oh. Shit." He connected the pieces himself—sudden darkness meant the Unknowns were coming back again. And they were usually never back so soon. Leon stumbled around the pitch-dark room, feeling around for his belt and boots. He tripped on his Gunblade and used a string of colorful words as he got up.

          "You go wake Cid up, an' I'll get Cloud and Aerith, kay?" Before he had a chance to answer, Yuffie slid into the Red Room and immediately bumped into Aerith, knocking both of them to the floor.

          "You feel it, too, huh?" Cloud murmured, lifting Aerith up with one arm and Yuffie with the other. "Aerith, Yuffie, both of you find somewhere safe to hide. Somethin's not right 'bout this visit."

          "Is there _anything_ right about _any_ of their visits?" Yuffie muttered sarcastically. Without another argument, she went for the door, taking Aeriths' hand and making a dash for the cellar beneath the hotel lobby. A small window looked out into the Second District where already Unknowns were beginning to congregate.

          Cloud and Leon were already outside, fending the Unknowns from getting into the hotel, where both of them knew that their lovers were hiding. Shifting colors and shapes passed by the window. One corpse fell close to the window—close enough for them to clearly see a terrifying, repulsive face. Yuffie covered her mouth to keep from screaming as her stomach lurched. She retched into a garbage can.

          "Oh, no!" Aeriths' soft voice was full of panic. Yuffie looked up. The Unknowns were chasing Leon and Cloud into the First District. Her heart stopped beating for an instant, then pounded hard and fast in her chest. She turned and went to get out of the cellar. "Yuffie, don't!" She didn't listen—she was already out of the cellar, out of the hotel, and on her way to the First District.

          Carefully, she snuck around, watching to keep an eye on Leon. But he saw her and panicked.

          "Yuffie! You _idiot! _Get outta here! Yer gonna get _killed!"_ He screamed.

          Before she answered, the doors to the world flew open, shaking everything. Yuffie plummeted from her hiding place, smashing a crate on the way, and landing on the ground a few feet from him. He made a dash for her, but the ground trembled violently and he fell. He got to his hands and knees and crawled, barely able to keep his balance.

          Wind emitted from the doors, only this time instead of blowing debris _into_ the down, there was a vacuum effect, pulling at anything close—which also meant Yuffie.

          She clung desperately to the stones on the ground, eyes closed. The ground shook harder and the wind became stronger. Leon made it a few feet from her and put out one hand.

          "Yuffie, take my hand!"

          She looked up. "I can't move! I'll get sucked in!"

          "Just do it!"

          She stretched one hand forward, slowly, and took hold of his hand with a great amount of difficulty. She took the same hand with her other one and held on, but the wind got even stronger, and she felt herself starting to slip. Slowly. She slid further away, and she was torn from his grasp and blown shrieking like a banshee through the door. Leon went to go after her, but before he got out, the doors abruptly closed. He hit them with a sick "crack!" and fell to the ground below, unconscious. Yuffies' scream could be heard through the doors, fading, until it was gone completely.

          The next Yuffie knew, she was in a white room, in an unfamiliar setting. Someone near her was speaking but she couldn't make out the dialogue. Until it referred to her.

          "Put her down. She can't wake until we are well out of sight." She felt a needle pierce her arm and something injected into her body. In less than ten seconds, she was out again.

                                                                                                   ~*~

I am _really_ sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but I promise that the next chapter will be longer! Anyway—remember the rules, children: no reviews=no new chapters. Reviews=new chapters. Get it? Got it? Good. Now review!      


	3. Prisoner

I love you guys. I juss hope FanFiction is done being a bitch for a while. Dammit, I gotta get a better connection than a 56k. //_-*

I shall remain calm. I shall not scream. I shall not lose my temper. All the hell with it—_I DON"T OWN IT! SQUARESOFT DOES! IF YOU NEED ME TO TELL YOU THAT AGAIN, I SHALL SMASH YOUR COMPUTER INTO LITTLE PIECES AND GIVE IT TO YOU INTREVENOUSLY!_ Okay, I feel better now.

                                                                                                   ~*~

Yuffie woke up, feeling dizzy, her vision fuzzy, and her limbs slow to respond to her commands to move them. Her arms felt like lead as she brought her hands up to rub her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision. It didn't work. She tried to move, only to realize that she was strapped to a beam or a pole sticking up from the ground.

          "She's awake," a serpent-like voice hissed. It was close—so close that she could feel its' breath on her. A blurred, flesh-toned shape hovered over her head.

          "So she is." The voice was distinctly female. Yuffie was relieved to see that, as far as she could tell, there were no Unknowns around. Another shape appeared behind the first.

          "Strong thing for her size. She should have been asleep another few hours," the second one commented. This one was clearly male. "But then again, she looks so heavily drugged… why hasn't she fallen back asleep? Look at her—she can't even keep her eyes open."

          "Discord, behave," the woman snapped. "Once we're back in the bastion walls we can interrogate her. That is—once we're back in the bastion walls and she's recovered from the drugs."

          The man, called Discord, snorted and muttered something, walking away with heavy steps. The woman's lighter steps followed. Since she couldn't see very well, Yuffie had to rely on her other senses. The place she was in smelled like a hospital room, and she heard the bumbling about of a ship crew. Other than that, nothing else was going on.

          _Where the hell am I and how the _fuck _did I get here?_ She wondered, irritated. She looked toward a light, but it seared her eyes—they were sensitive!—and she looked away, blinking away tears since her arms were too heavy to lift. Bad idea to look at the light like that. She kept dozing and losing all perception of time until she was jolted and the vessel came to a rough halt. More blurred shapes headed her way. She wanted to run, to scream, but she could hardly move. The pole she was strapped to was lifted from the floor and she was carried to the gates of a heavy fortress. Or at least, that's what she could make out. Her vision hadn't cleared completely.

          Someone cut the leather strap the held her to the pole; she fell to the ground in a heap and twisted to get on her back and out of an uncomfortable position.

          "Discord, pick her up," the female voice said. A pair of icy cold hands lifted her up by the arms. He had an overpowering smell of dead, rotting flesh about him. It made Yuffie feel ill. Using what little strength she had, she twisted, trying to free herself.

          "Lemmie go… come on, lemmie go…" she groaned. She hung limply by her arms, head hanging.

          "She's still not over the drugs," he said to his partner. "We should wait."

          "It does not matter," she answered, coming closer. "We don't need her physicality. Just for her to talk." She got very close to Yuffie, but her face didn't become any clearer. She had a musky, mildew-ish smell, one that made her gag. "Girl, what's your name?"

          Her head lolled forward. She struggled to pick it back up again. "I—I don't—remember…" it was partially true. For a fleeting instant after she had woken up, she had forgotten everything about herself, only to have it return in a rush. She had gotten the sensation that someone had poured cold water onto her head.

          "Memory must be damaged. Dammit, Disarray, I _told_ you we were using too much! Now she won't be of any use to us!" He threw her to the ground. She managed to twist herself so she landed on her back, not her face.

          "Calm yourself. She'll return in time." The female, called Disarray, looked down at Yuffie. "But until then, keep her under guard. Put a harness on her. We don't need her running away."

          Yuffie was roughly picked up and forced to walk on jellied legs a long distance, where someone tore Clouds' overlarge shirt off of her and fastened a leather harness around her upper body. It looped around her neck and middle-back. The straps met in the center at the front at a small metal disc, no bigger than a large coin. The large shirt was replaced and she was thrown into a dark cell with stone walls and a stone floor.

          _That was weird,_ she thought absently. Her limbs still felt rubbery. She had no idea where she was, how she had gotten there, and what had happened to everyone else, but she was determined to find a way out of her current situation. She had to start by ridding her body of the drugs. The cell was dark, and her vision was still blurred. She groped around for something to hold onto. A ledge worked just fine. She pulled herself to her feet and fell, smashing her chin on the ledge.

          _Get up, Yuffie,_ she told herself. _Get up. If you ever want to get out of here, you have to walk first._ Growling, she pulled herself upright and stayed upright. She took a shaky step forward, still holding the ledge. Walking made her knees weak—twice she fell and had to start again. More times than not, her legs gave out beneath her, but she pulled herself up and forced herself to walk.

          Once she had mastered the skill of clumsy, drugged stumbling, she felt along the walls, memorizing the layout of the small cell. She smashed her shins on a bench that she assumed she would have to use for a bed. The harness disc dug into her skin just above her breasts. She scratched at it, and was delivered a nasty shock to her fingers. She yelped and put them in her mouth. She cautiously and softly touched it with her other hand and was shocked again, though not as badly.

          A frown etched itself into her face. She stumbled to the door and looked out the barred window. She could vaguely make out severely blurred, shapeless masses moving back and forth. She couldn't see them well, but she _felt_ them, like a nauseous feeling in her stomach. She swallowed hard: her cell was guarded by Unknowns. Big ones, too, from what she could tell.

          _Not good. Really, _really_ not good. I have to get out of here. But how?_ She shivered, getting cold as night approached. She curled herself up on the bench and fell asleep.

"Leon, you can't go out there!" Aerith protested as she followed the enraged man around. Leon was gathering as many potions as he could find and carry, as well as anything else useful that would fit in his clothes.

          "Why not?" He growled.

          "Because it isn't safe. You don't know where they took Yuffie, and you don't even know _what_ took her. No one does!" She bumped into him as he stopped unexpectedly. The girl turned to Cloud, who was standing nearby, but hadn't said anything. "Cloud, you tell him!"

          "Tell him what?" He asked in a low voice, though it wasn't really a question. "It's his choice whether he wants to go after Yuffie or not. I'd understand if he did go, though." He looked from Leon to Aerith. "I did some pretty stupid things to get back to you."

          "So it's settled, then," Leon said.

          "No!" Aerith had tears on her cheeks. "You can't risk this—it's way too dangerous! Please, think."

          "I am," Leon said as he made his way to the door of the Accessory Shop where they were gathered. "Just not with my head." Without another word, he left, running to the doors of the world. He looked at them, not knowing what would happen in a Gummi ship, but he would rather take the chance and die, rather than live knowing that Yuffie was still in danger.

          The ship did fine for some of the voyage. It wasn't until he reached what appeared to be a huge Warp Hole that it began acting up. Just before the ship was sucked into the hole, everything went dead, and he went spiraling into space.

                                                                                                   ~*~

Woohoo, another chapter is up! I gotta take a shower, but when I'm all squeakitty clean, I'll come back and start on chapter four! With luck, I can finish it and have it up tomorrow morning!  


	4. A Search Begins

FanFiction is being a biiiitch again! It's gonna make me _scream_ someday!! Like… now. AAAAAAARRRRRRRRUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! *ahem* I'm finished. Really. No joking.

If you still need a disclaimer, please do us all a favor and exit this site immediately and check into the nearest hospital for mental observation.

And just because I'm doing horrible things to Yuffie doesn't mean I don' like her. I love her to bits, but I'm juss trying to prove a point—that nothing can stop willpower.

                                                                                                  ~*~

Leon woke with a headache. Understandably so; he had crashed on this unfamiliar place several hours ago and his ship lay in ruins scant yards away. It was a miracle that _he_ had survived. Groaning, he sat up, seeing a handful of the largest Unknowns inspecting his ship. Eyes wide, he watched them and slowly reached for the Gunblade. He wouldn't attack first—he was smarter than that—but he would defend himself if they came after him.

          Luckily, they didn't. Satisfied that there was no fresh meat for them to feast on in the ship, they dissolved into gigantic puddles and flowed away, leaving burned ground in their tracks. He watched them leave, seeing, in the distance, a fortress heavily guarded with Unknowns. He would bet his life that that was where Yuffie had been taken. Getting there, however, appeared to be an entirely different challenge all together—and once he got there, how would he know where to start looking? And what was _within_ those forbidding walls? He didn't know. Nor did he care. The only thing on his mind now was Yuffie and her safety.

          With the greatest caution, he made his way towards the fortress, not really having a plan as to how to distract the Unknowns long enough to get inside. Or even how to distract them long enough to stop them from devouring him. The dead land nearing the fortress gates was laden with large rocks—he used them to his advantage and dove behind them when he thought that he had been seen.

          He looked over one boulder not fifty yards from the gates and watched Unknown pace back and forth, back and forth. They wielded weapons, too. Mostly spears, some arrows, and some javelins, though Leon thought that really all they needed was their unnatural ability to take on the shapes of other creatures. He watched them carefully, trying to see where there may have been a gap between two guards where he could slip through.

          No dice—the perimeter of the fortress was full of Unknowns pacing back and forth, never tiring. There was no space between any guards. He watched them carefully, looking harder to see if he had, perhaps, missed a spot. Something caught his eye. One of the Unknowns had slipped out of its' line and into the path of another. They collided with one another and squabbled, thrashing at each other with their spears. Both were skilled, but eventually, they had run each other through with their weapons and dissolved into puddles on the ground, colors still shifting. They left their posts for no longer than a minute before returning. This gave Leon an idea. If they were _that_ stupid, perhaps he could fool them into fighting one another long enough to let him pass and get, if not through the gate, then at least over the wall. The wall was at least fifteen feet high, but it was made of irregularly shaped stones that would serve perfectly as footholds.

          So how would he trick them? A shot from his Gunblade would be too obvious, or enrage it enough to come after him. He needed something else—something that wouldn't be so conspicuous… he looked down. All around him there were stones the size of hens eggs. He could throw one far enough to be both safe from being noticed _and_ to be able to see a target. Not having any other plan, or the time in which to _think_ of one, he grabbed up four stones and headed for another boulder, crouching behind it. The Unknowns were still pacing, as if on auto-pilot. Carefully, he took aim and threw one of the stones. It clattered a foot behind one of them. It stopped to look back at it, and continued pacing, having lost interest in it.

          Leon scowled and took aim with another stone. This time, it hit one. It hit it low, where its' feet would have been if it had _had_ feet. It stumbled and plowed into the one in front of it. The second one turned and bashed the first on the head with its' spear. The first one gave it a shove, and soon they were fighting like preschool children. They bumped into another, adding a third party to the fight. It just looked like one color-shifting mass rolling randomly across the ground, showing no signs of letting up. Had it been in any other context, it would have been funny. But instead of bursting into peals of hilarity, he got closer to the wall. Closer… closer… closer… he leaped to it and held onto the stones with his hands and tried to get better footing. He succeeded.

          The Unknowns beneath him were still fighting, bumping into the wall every so often and making it quake. He feared that he might fall off, but he reached to top alive and sat on the wall, only to be disgruntled to find that _more_ Unknowns were guarding, although not so many as on the outside. The wall would easily have provided him with a good twelve- or thirteen-foot jump, but leaping off of it would probably result in breaking or spraining whatever he landed on, and long experience had showed him that the first thing to hit the ground most of the time was his rear end. He cringed at the thought and looked around for _anything_ that could help him, or else he'd be stuck up here until he died, which, at the rate things were going now, wouldn't be far off.

          But a small blessing stood against the wall in a corner opposite him: a tower spiraled to the sky, and it was only four feet away from the wall. There was an arrow loop not too far up, which could have been used for a handhold or a foothold. A perilous balancing act got him from one corner to the other, where the tower stood. Up close, the arrow loop proved to be five feet up. What he was about to do was stupid, and he knew it. But Yuffie was in there, and he could not—_would_ not—let her die. He loved her. More than anyone.

          He stood up as straight as he could without losing his balance and stretched his arms out, slipping his hands into the narrow slit in the side of the tower. He let himself drop from the wall, and braced his feet on the side of the tower. It took a great deal of energy to pull himself up; once he was braced as well as he could, he took hold of the top of the arrow loop where a stone stuck out some. There was a window twenty-some-odd feet up that he could fit through it he got up to it. But there was only one more arrow loop, and it was about ten feet above his head. He stood in the current arrow loop, looking up at it. Since the tower was round, a few stone stuck out at the corners, but they would probably not make for good footholds. Fighting the laws of gravity, he slid himself up the tower and into the second arrow loop, and only a few feet above that was a window about two feet across.

          He grazed his shoulders climbing into a darkened room. Once all of him had gotten through the window, he fell in a heap on the floor. The floor, like everything else, was stone. He could make out the outlines of some furniture and a huge door, but nothing else. He made his way to that door now, hoping that it wasn't locked, or, if it was, that it was locked from the _inside_ and that there was a key.

          Fortunately, the door wasn't even closed all the way. He pushed his way into an ill-lit hallway. The only light came from small, half-moon windows located high up on the walls, out of all reach.

          _I'm in now… easy part is over. Now I have to find Yuffie,_ he thought. _Oh, God, please let her be all right._ He slipped down the hall and towards an archway, not knowing where he was going. This was a big place—it could take a while to figure all of it out. It was worse than Hollow Bastion.

"Hold her still. She keeps thrashing," Discord commanded. Two guards, that weren't Unknowns, but she still had no idea what they were, kept Yuffie immobile. She was pressed against a stone column in a warm room that smelled of burning wood. Her hands were bound in front of her, wrapped around the column. A thick leather strap kept her midsection in one place. When the guard got near her, she swung around and snapped her teeth at him. She almost got him, even though her vision had _still_ not returned to normal. He slammed her head to the stone and held her there.

          Someone behind her—from the sound of it, it was Disarray—pulled down the neckline of Clouds' shirt, exposing the back of her shoulder. There was the sound of metal scraping stone; then there was a hiss and the smell of burned material. Discord walked over, and Yuffie felt something hot getting near her skin. Something _dangerously_ hot. She whimpered, trying in vain to get away.

          "No use, girl," Disarray said. (They still hadn't learned her real name, so they contented themselves with just calling her "girl.") "The more you squall, the more it will hurt you."

          At the word "squall," thoughts of Leon came into her head. Would she ever see him again? _Probably not,_ her mind told her. Tears started to form but she willed them not to fall. _No, that can't be right. No…_

          The heat was getting closer to her—painfully closer. She clenched her eyes shut. Without warning, it plunged onto to back of her shoulder, the part that had been exposed, burning skin and flesh. She shrieked, and the metal disc strapped to her chest began to burn as well. Whenever she screamed or did something that her captors didn't like, the disc reacted by burning her. She snapped her eyes open only to shut them immediately. Her eyes were so sensitive to light, and when she _did_ open them, what she saw was so blurry that everything was indistinguishable.

          She gnawed on her lower lip to keep from screaming or crying. The hot object left her skin, but she still burned where it touched. The shirt was pulled back up onto her and she was untied, but a guard still had her by bands around her wrists.

          "Now you can't run away from us." Although Yuffie couldn't see Disarrays' face, she knew that the woman wore a nasty smirk. "You should have known better than to let yourself leave with the Unknowns. Now you must stay here until we have seized control of the worlds. That might take a while." To the guards, she said, "Don't take her to her cell. Instead, bring her up to the roof and tie her there. Make sure she faces the sun. Bring her down at dawn and put her in the cellars beneath the jail cells. The sooner she is too sick to go on, the better."

          Instead of arguing, Yuffie walked with the guards, too tired and in too much pain to want to fight. She leaned on the wall with one shoulder. There were engravings in the stone wall. She used her arms to feel them. It felt like a mural of some kind, depicting a scene, or a series of scenes. She was only to make out one shape—the shape of a horse. But she would be walked down to the cellars in the morning. She could pick up more of it by then, and from what she knew of these people, she would probably be walked back to the roof the following night. At least she had something to keep her mind occupied: trying to "see" the images in her mind that she felt with her hands, or, in this case, her arms.

          The guards shoved her hard up a flight of winding stairs, She tripped and skinned her knees on the stone stairs. One of them opened a door and a blast of cold wind mad her teeth chatter. They shoved her onto the tiles of the roof and tied her to a lightning rod. Wind blew harshly, chilling her to the bone. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face, but it was rapidly deteriorating as the sun began to set. But once the sun was out, she would be able to open her eyes and possibly find a way out.

          It got colder as the sun sank completely below the horizon. Now she was so cold that she could barely feel anything. The roof tiles beneath her legs scratched her up as she tried to shift. After a long time, she gave up and relaxed as much as she could. The ties at her wrists gave. Her shifting so much had caused the ropes to become threadbare on the stones on the tower. She slipped her hands from their restraints and hears the rope fall to the edge of the roof and fall off. It hit the ground a few seconds later—probably about an eighty or one hundred foot drop. She swallowed hard and slowly managed to slide down the side of the tower.

          Something smelled funny as she reached the bottom; water sloshed. It was probably a moat, but it wasn't water. Was it? Who knew? All Yuffie cared was that it was her ticket out if she could just get across. With difficulty and daring stupidity, She held her breath and dove into the water. It had a thick, slippery consistency to it—like olive oil. She knifed easily through it, coming up only when she needed air.

          Too late, she realized that she had gotten underneath something and she had no way of getting back out for air. She turned back, touching along the large stone slab that was over her, searching for a way out, but she didn't have the time. Tired lungs burned, and she fainted only a few feet from the edge of the stone tunnel where she could have gone up to breathe. The current shoved her to the surface and she floated limply atop the thick substance.

                                                                                                  ~*~

Oooh, _cliffhanger!_ Don' worry, I don't intend on killing anyone. I'd never do that. Anyway—I'm sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but I was really tired and I fell asleep at SEVEN PM, woke up again at nine, took a shower, and went back to bed. But I made it up to you, din' I? This was one long chapter! I'll probably make the rest of the chapters half from Leon's POV and half from Yuffie's POV, but I won't be so good at Leon's because I'm not used to writing from a guy's perspective. Authors usually seem to write from the character that's the same sex as them. Leon's a guy, and—guess what—I'm not.

And just out of sheer curiosity, based on my writing, how old do you guys think I am? I juss wanna know. Curiosity killed the cat, but I'm no cat! Vulpes doesn't mean "cat," it means "fox." Vulpes Lapis is Latin for "stone fox." Meaning the animal, not what some girls refer to themselves as. Enough of my blathering. Peeze review, and I'll get chapter five posted ASAP. I pwomise!         


	5. Reunited

I 'ave no idea whatso ever how many chapters long this story will be. I'm thinking probably around ten or so. Thanks once again to my reviewers, without whose support I would not be writing this.

If you actually want to see a disclaimer, I suggest brain surgery.

                                                                                                   ~*~

The halls inside the fortress were full of Unknowns marching in lines, or just standing around, but they had no distinct shapes. Unlike their visits to Traverse in which they took on the shapes of other creatures, here the Unknowns were masses of shifted colors, but wielded weapons exceptionally well, considering the fact that they had no hands.

          Long after dark and he was still searching, hopelessly lost in this enormous stone prison. It was a confusing maze of staircases that led to nowhere, doors that only led to other doors; some doors led right out of the side of the building; rooms had no floors, creating a dangerous drop. Whoever designed this place had obviously not liked unwelcome visitors. Or else in-laws.

          It was far too dark to see, now. Leon stumbled around, hitting his legs on things and almost falling into a room without a floor. He was getting tired, but he refused to let himself sleep. He at least had to find out if there was anything _except_ for Unknowns living here. He leaned on a tapestry, and the wall swung open: a secret passage.

          "That works," he whispered to himself as he pulled the secret door closed. There wasn't any light here, either, but torches located some distance apart provided just _barely_ enough light to see by. The floor was wood and covered all over with a layer of dust.

          This was all well and good, but _where_ did this passage lead? Where was the enemy? _What _was the enemy? More importantly—where was Yuffie? He had no idea. After a while and a handful of turns, he couldn't even remember where he had come from. Damn his sense of direction.

          An entire block was missing from the wall in one spot; he looked through it, seeing a room through a shroud. No one appeared to be in it, but if he stayed and someone _did_ get in, would they see him there? Or was this peephole invisible from the other side? He didn't have long to wait—a few seconds after he found the absent block, a door slammed as two guards entered the room.

          "Ah, shit, she ain't here, either," a rough voice said. There was a crack that sounded like wood breaking—he must have kicked a chair or a stool.

          "Where could she've gone to? She keeps running and we keep havin' to _look for her._ What I wanna know is how she's s'damn good at hiding," a second one said. "In any case, there's not too many places left where she coulda gotten to in an hour."

          "Yea, but we dunno how long she's been gone for. It could be an hour, it could be more. She's stupid enough to try _anything_ to get outta here, too. Leapt right offa the tower and into the back moat to escape. The Mistress found 'er later floating in it. Out cold. Musta run outta air. Stupid thing."

          "Smart thing," the second corrected. "How else could she've escaped? Dammit, when we find her, we're tyin' her up with lotsa ropes and in a _lot_ of places. I'm sick to death 'a these wild goose chases."

          "Yea, well, let's get outta here 'fore we get in trouble. The sooner we find 'er, the better. C'mon." The door slammed shut again. Leon looked away from the room and leaned against the wall, half-hoping it might have been a door into the room so he could follow the guards—maybe the "she" they were talking about was Yuffie. And she was loose in this gigantic maze of a fortress. Somewhere. There was a chance now that he could find her.

          The passage led further into the fortress. He hoped that he could get out and back into the halls to look for Yuffie before the guards found either of them. On he ran, further into the tunnel, not knowing where he was headed—only thinking of Yuffie.

With the silence and grace of a cat, she jumped along the tops of shelves in one room. She stayed as silent as possible, because a fire burned in the rooms' fireplace, and she didn't know if someone lay napping. Her eyes had reached a new low—so sensitive to even the smallest amount of light that they burned when she opened them, so she kept them shut all the time.

          The metal pressed to Yuffie's skin was steadily burning, sending crippling pain into her body, but she pressed on. The guards and the Unknowns knew that she was missing; they were searching for her. She could hear a few Unknowns pass outside of the room, marching in a line. They were stupid creatures and didn't think to actually look for their prey. It was the guards that she was worried about. She had pretended to sleep once and overheard a few talking about what they would do to her if the had the chance. She swallowed hard and kept going.

          There was a window ahead. She could both smell and feel cool night air coming towards her. It was a little _too_ cool, but she had to get out. She could go back to the moat, swim across, get out. _Anything_ just to get back to Traverse in one piece, and she was falling apart at the seams already.

          _Come on, just a little further,_ she urged herself. _Keep going. Once you make the halfway mark in the moat, you're home free._ She intended to swim the distance—the _whole_ distance. And she knew how she'd do it. If only she could just reach the window and squeeze out…

          Her hopes were shattered when the door opened and three guards came in. She froze in her tracks. There was only one source of light in the room—the fire—so maybe they didn't see her. Maybe they would think she wasn't there and leave. Or maybe she could get to the window before they saw her. She crept slowly along the bookshelves, sliding her hands in front of her to feel for the end of a shelf and the wall with the window in it.

          "We've looking almost everywhere else, she's gotta be here 'less she's in the moat again."

          "Yea, but where's she hiding? There's a million places here that she could fit into." Pause. "Start tearin' stuff up."

          There was loud clattering of wood, metals, and books as the guards knocked things over and broke tables and chairs to find her. One began pushing shelves. Her mouth dropped open, and she sped up, going for the window. She was in total alarm when she found the window and it proved to be only a barred half-moon one. Her shelf tilted and on instinct, she let out a small cry, then clamped her hands over her mouth. Too late.

          "Hey, there she is! Up there!" One of them shoved the shelf over, but she jumped and landed on the ground. She was a few feet at least from them, she knew, and made a run for the door. Although her eyes were shut, she listened to where her pursuers were and knew where they had gone. She weaved here and there, making herself a difficult target. She had gotten overconfident and run into one. He clamped his arms down around her as another bound her hands.

          "Gotcha, you little bitch. Greasy little thing, ain'cha?" She growled and twisted, trying to pull free. The metal disc burned more, this time making her yelp in pain and start to thrash like a wild thing. She bit at them, hissing and spitting like an agitated cat.

          The biggest of the three picked her up. "C'mon, let's get 'er back. The Mistress and the Master will be glad to know she din' get out again." This time, they slipped a gag around her mouth so she couldn't bite. Or scream.

          _No! No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening._ She began to feel tears falling. _I'll never get out. Never see anyone I care about again. Never see Squall again…_

          At her own thought, she gave a last attempted escape. She rolled, slipping a little in her captors' arms, but he had a firm grip on her. They threw her into a room that she knew well, and tied her to a metal beam. She fought the ties for a long time, until she ran out of energy and fell asleep.

A loud ruckus had gotten Leon's attention. He followed it, after he managed to get out of the passageway. It sounded like a group of people walking and a wild animal having a bad day. Curiosity got the best of him and he went to see what it was, only to lose track of them, but he was in a possible place where Yuffie could have been kept—a prison.

          He walked past the rows of cells, hiding in niches and looking into the darkened cells to see where she could have been kept. Unknowns patrolled the halls, but as usual, they were far too stupid to notice him there. It was a good thing, too, because these ones were carrying spears with razored tips.

          He reached the end of the cells, and he hadn't found Yuffie. Utterly disdained, he got to his knees on the floor. He felt like crying. But the floor he had knelt on was made of rotting wooden planks, and at his sudden impact to the floor, they gave and sent him falling ten feet to the ground below. Another room.

          Leon glanced around. This one was damp and cold; ill kempt. Most definitely not a place where they would keep prisoners that they wanted alive. But something caught his eye: a small shape in the corner of the room—a little bit of white in a pitch-dark room. A small figure, bound, gagged, and tied to a metal beam—Yuffie.

                                                                                                   ~*~

Appearances are deceiving. You dunno what's gonna happen, do ya? Muahaha! You know the drill people—reviews equal chapters up faster! And today is the last day of school, which means spring break, which means I can be on the computer all fucking day. This story is probably PG-13 mainly from the Authors' Notes. Hehe. Bad VL. I use extraordinarily colorful language. ^.^'

Ellyrianna: All right, here's another chapter—now you get to update!

(Geez, ya learn somefink new about yerself all the time. I thought my hair was straight, but I seem to have attained enormous sausage curls at the end of my ponytail. How'd they get there? Maybe it's the friggen humidity.)       


	6. Mixed Blessings

Somehow I'm under the impression that this story won't be nearly as popular as my other L/Y. *sigh* Well, I can't have everything. It's nice to know I still have _some_ loyal fans. And all of spring break to work on my makeshift masterpiece.

A disclaimer is no longer necessary. If you still need to see it, the only necessity is psychoanalysis.

By the way—anyone know where Snowri went?

                                                                                                  ~*~

Yuffie knew someone was in the room with her. She'd heard someone of considerable weight tumble through the ceiling and land gracelessly on the floor, but she didn't know who it was. The footsteps pattern was unfamiliar—perhaps it was a guard. She pretended to still be sleeping.

          Whoever it was, he was taking great caution in going slowly and quietly, but, lately, nothing had escaped her hearing. He was getting closer. She assumed it was a man, because there were no other females in this place except for herself and Disarray, and Disarray wasn't the one walking towards her.

          She appeared to be sleeping, and actually did begin to drift off again. Leon got closer to her, only a few feet away. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could see her clearer now. She was in remarkably good condition considering what she had gone through—bruised and scratched and a little thinner, but other than that she appeared to be all right. On the back of her left shoulder, Cloud's shirt had been torn some, revealing a nasty black wound that hadn't healed properly. Upon further inspection, it proved to be a burn mark: a brand burned into her skin, two capital D's hooked together like chain links.

          He was close enough now to touch her—and to untie her. He reached one hand out, and Yuffie sprang to life, twisting as much as her restraints would let her. She was strapped to the beam around her stomach and under her arms as well as her hands tied around it behind her. Leon was surprised, and got back on his heels. Growling was muffled from the gag around her mouth and her eyes were still closed. He tried to get closer to her, but she was doing a good of keeping him at bay.

          Despite her restraints, she was using what she could to keep him away, not knowing if he was a guard or not, and the sensible part of her mind had shut itself down. She heedlessly swung her own head, using it like a sledgehammer, catching him twice and taking little or no pain from it. She'd hoped she taught this stranger a lesson, so she stopped and just growled.

          Leon used her calm state as an opportunity to slip the gag off of her. Big mistake—once her mouth was free she hissed and snapped at him. She was like an animal—what was _wrong_ with her?

          "Yuffie, stop it. Calm down," he whispered, as loudly as he dared. Her growling faltered and stopped. A look of disbelief came over her face, even though she still kept her eyes shut.

          "It can't…" she trailed off, trying to pull her hands around and not succeeding. "Untie my hands," she told him, then she added, in a somewhat pleading tone, "Please."

          Confused, not knowing why she didn't just look, Leon did as she asked. She rubbed the raw spots on her wrists where the ropes had rubbed against her skin. After a minute, she reached forward with one hand to touch his face, but suddenly took her hand away. She was scared that if she touched him, this would all turn out to be a dream. Biting her lower lip, she brushed his cheek with her hand, running her fingers up through his hair. The other hand trailed down his chest, finding the chain that led to the pendant he always wore.

          "Squall?" She tested him, knowing how much he hated to be called by that name. She hadn't let go of him, felt him come forward and kiss her forehead.

          "I don't give a damn what you call me anymore," he told her as he cut through the leather straps holding her to the beam. He took her by the hands and helped her to stand. When she was on her feet, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Her eyes were starting to water, and she pulled away to dry them, looking downward as she did so.

          "Yuffie?" Leon asked, now entirely confused by her actions. She turned towards him, eyes still closed. "Why don't you just open your eyes?" She turned her head downward again, staying quiet for a long time.

          "Wouldn't make a difference," she whispered. "The only reason I know it's you is because I can hear and feel you." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve again.

          "What're you talking about?" He asked. "Are you being this shy on purpose, or do you outright refuse to tell me why you won't just look at me?" Silence. "Yuffie, look at me. Please." He hooked one arm around her waist and the other hand stroked her hair. Yuffie released a shaky breath. Without another word, she tilted her head up and opened her eyes.

          They were completely glazed over—mirror-like with a bluish hue to them. Whites, irises, and pupils were no longer visible. She was completely blinded, looking right at him but seeing nothing. He stared for a second, trying _not_ to believe it. But it was true—she was blind.

          "You're staring," she accused him. Shocked, he looked away, snapping himself out of his stupor.

          "Wait—how'd you know?" He asked. She shrugged.

          "You were breathing on my face and not saying anything." She paused. "I dun need to see anything to know what's going on around me." There was an awkward silence between them until Yuffie broke it. "Oh for—"

          She didn't finish her sentence before she threw herself around him and kissed him, legs around his waist. He took a step backwards to regain his balance and kissed her back. Neither wanted to let go, but Yuffie tore herself away and looked off in the direction of the hole that Leon had made when he fell through.

          "What's wrong?" He asked, allowing her to get back on the ground, even though he didn't want her to.

          "I think someone's coming," she whispered. He started to say something, but she clapped her hand over his mouth—remarkably good aim for someone who couldn't see. She relaxed some and took her hand away, saying, "It was just some Unknowns. Unless one of 'em falls through that hole you made, we're okay."

          "So how do we gout outta here?"

          Yuffie thought about her answer for a moment before asking him, "Do you remember which way you came to get here?"

          "Yuffie, I took so many passages and turns that I'll probably be stuck in this labyrinth forever."

          "Would you be able to find the gates if you got to the roof and could see everything?" She asked, sounding hopeful.

          "Probably, but how're we gonna get onto the roof?"

          Here, she grinned. "I know how. Follow me." She headed for a thick oak door with cast-iron handles. It opened with a loud creak. Both she and Leon winced, but no one had heard it. She opened to door as much as she dared and slipped out, followed by Leon, who closed the door behind him.

          "Now what?" He asked her.

          With complete confidence, Yuffie grabbed his hand and went to the right, running silently down the halls. She had to slow her pace so that Leon could keep up with her. She kept her free hand on the wall, using it for her guide.

          "How do you know where you're going?" He panted.

          "They put me up on the roof every night to freeze. They're hoping I get sick and collapse, but I know the way by heart now." She tapped the wall with her knuckles, indicating the carvings. "I use this as a roadmap." She got to a wall the appeared to be a dead end, and she slid her hands along it, looking for something.

          "There's no door there," Leon told her. "Maybe you took a wrong turn…" He watched her hook her hands into the gaping mouth of a carving of a dragon. She started to pull on it.

          "Maybe not—to you," she said between pulling on the stone wall. "But—appearances are—" the wall slid open, revealing a darkened staircase. "Deceiving." She smiled to herself and started up the stairs. "Be careful," she warned. "This is a pretty tight spiral. Whatever you do, don't run, or else you'll trip."

          At the top of the staircase, Yuffie pushed the door open and stepped onto the roof. Leon followed her. The height was nauseating.

          "Can ya see the gates from here?" She asked. He got down on his knees and looked off of all sides. The gate was off to the east where the sun was starting to rise. Yuffie whimpered and shut her eyes tightly.

          "You okay?"

          She nodded. "Light hurts my eyes, though I don't know why. Can you find the gates?" She asked again.

          "Yea," he said, standing. "Off thataway, the east." Yuffie was on her knees on the roof tiles, clenching her teeth shut and scratching at the disc in her skin. She was making no sound at all, only thrashing.

          Before he even asked, she told him. "They know I'm gone."

                                                                                                  ~*~

Oooohhhh, another cliffhanger! Unless I get reviews, no continue! I know I said I could be on the computer all the time, but it's so nice outside, and after two friggen weeks of Mother Nature and her PMS, I think I'll go and enjoy it while it lasts!

Thanks to my reviewers, the few that I have for this one. I guess nothing's as good as the first. *shrugs* Ah well. Review, anyway. Because I said so.

GBF: UPDATE YOUR STORY! Yer leavin' me hanging and it's no fair!

Ellyrianna: You, too.        


	7. Escape

More chapters! I know you people are just positively ecstatic! I have you worried, now, with the fact that I took away Yuffie's sight. Dun worry, it ain't gonna last forever. Juss so ya don' worry.

_IF YOU STILL NEED TO SEE A FRIGGEN DISCLAIMER, I SHALL PERSONALLY TAKE YOUR COMPUTER AND GIVE IT TO YOU INTREVENOUSLY—WITHOUT BREAKING IT UP FIRST!_ I have absolutely no patience with stupid people, as evidenced. (But that makes little sense because I'm pretty dumb, too… then again, I dun have all that much patience with myself, either.)

                                                                                                  ~*~

Leon saw Yuffie clawing at something underneath her shirt but he had no idea what was going on. He had one vague idea, and that was that something was hurting her. He slunk across the roof and pried her hands off of her chest before she did herself actual harm. She nipped at his hands.

          "Yuffie, _what_ is going on?" He demanded. He hadn't released her hands still, and another wave of pain hit her, stronger than the last. They had no idea where she was, and were using the pain to get her to go _back_ to the fortress. The purpose of the harness in the first place was to get her to act without thinking, and sometimes it worked, but Discord and Disarray had made the mistake of using their worst punishments from it early on, and she got used to it and was mostly able to ignore it. But not now.

          She plowed herself into Leon's chest, whimpering, but not making any more noise than that. The pains subsided and became a steady throb, but nothing more. She shivered and sat back, hugging her knees.

          "What was that all about? How do you know that they know where you are?" He asked. "And who's 'they,' anyway?"

          "Discord. And Disarray. They're the ones that brought me here—they kinda control the Unknowns. I dunno what they want me for, but I heard 'em saying they were gonna take control of the worlds."

          "You mean like what Ansem tried doing?" He sounded shocked that anyone would try to do something so stupid again. Especially after what had happened to Ansem. Yuffie nodded. "So how do they know yer gone? An' how do _you_ know that _they_ know?"

          Figuring the best explanation for his question was just to see what was causing the pain, she sat a few steps away from him and opened her shirt, not caring what else he saw (even though she still wore her own clothes under it), just as long as he got the idea of the slave harness. He remained speechless for some time as he stared at the small metal disc that had fused itself into her skin from burning so often. It was another wound that had not healed properly.

          "One of them controls it," she explained as she closed the shirt. "I dunno which one. Maybe they switch on an' off, but whenever I do something that they don' like, they use it to try an' get me to stop. Like a cattle prod. Only constantly attached to my skin."

          "Oh," Leon said in a small voice, not thinking of anything else to say. Yuffie turned her head behind her, suddenly alert, like a deer that had just heard something coming.

          "Unknowns," she said. "Down there. Take a look." She pointed to the ground below them where a team of Unknowns left the fortress, each of them bearing a weapon. They marched out in two single-file lines like soldiers. "Damn, they've gone off looking for me…" she wrinkled her nose in distaste.

          "So what're we gonna do, just sit up here and wait around to be butchered?" Leon asked. He watched the Unknowns file out. There were at least thirty in each line that had exited the fortress. Sixty in all. The ground was definitely not a safe place to be.

          "Nope," Yuffie said. "We're gonna sit around up here and ait until the ground is covered with troops. Then we'll get back inside and wait until they've come back in."

          _"What?_ Have you lost your _mind?"_ He hissed.

          "No, not really. Think about it," she told him. "They know I'm missing, right?"

          "Yea…"

          "So they're gonna go looking for me. And they know that I'll try to escape, so the first places they'll check are _outside_ the fortress walls. The very _last_ place they'd look for me is inside."

          That made more sense than it didn't. "So how long d'ya think we have to wait 'til we can get out?" He asked.

          "Not long. They give up pretty fast." She crept over to the door that led back into the fortress. "C'mon, back down this way. Yer prob'ly gonna have to crawl in the ceiling rafters some so we can get around without bein' noticed. Think you'll be okay with it?" She pulled the door shut behind them as they began the descent down the tightly spiraled staircase.

          They went back into the hallway and Yuffie closed the stone wall panel and went down a different hallways, not the one leading to the jail cell that she had been trapped in.

          "Do you have any idea where you're going?" Leon asked her as they ran.

          "None whatso ever."

          "Thanks for the overwhelming reassurance."

          "Any time." Yuffie grinned in spite of the danger they were in. She stopped short. Leon crashed into her from behind, knocking her down.

          "What now?" He helped her up.

          "Discord and Disarray and a few guards are coming," she barely whispered. "Quick, find somewhere to hide!" She took her own advice and found a nice in the wall where torches were kept, but this one was empty. She braced herself in it by putting her feet on one side and pressing her back to the other and holding herself up at the very top of the torch slot. Leon, being none so good at climbing, hid in a rather clever place, where no one would look for him—out in the open, having found a loose stone on the side of a bench, removed it, and crawled beneath it, he looked out through a small crack and held his breath.

          "—found solid evidence that _someone else_ has made it into out fortress! Discord, you've much to answer for! It was a terrible idea to use the Unknowns to guard the outside gates! They're so stupid they would let _anyone_ in!" A shrill voice said. Yuffie recognized it immediately: Disarray.

          "They'll follow my orders," a smooth male voice answered. "They would not let anyone into the fortress. Whomever it was had obviously just gotten lucky—no need to worry, my dear. I have sent troops out to look for the girl. Eighty more Unknown are patrolling the perimeter, searching for her and whomever found their way _into_ the fortress."

          "And if they're still _here?"_ Disarray hissed. "You haven't thought of everything, yet! If something goes wrong, the Unknowns could lead to _our_ destruction!"

          "They wouldn't dare. I created them. They will not turn on their creator."

          "How do you know?"

          "Because. I created them. I know them inside and out."

          "Things don't always turn out exactly according to a master plan, Discord. Remember Sorrow and the Heartless? He created them, designed them to follow his every order, and they broke from his control and led to mass destruction—including his own."

          "Sorrow was a _fool._ I am far more careful than he was."

          "I don't care!" There was an extremely exaggerated huff. "Fine, have it your way. Double the troops on the outside. I don't want her getting away." Their voices faded as they left. Leon and Yuffie waited a long time after the silence before they came out of their hiding places.

          As Leon replaced the stone he'd taken out, Yuffie approached him.

          "They're the ones. Avoid 'em like anthrax."

          "Oh, don't worry," he said, dusting himself off. "I 'ave every intention of doing so." He slipped an arm around her shoulders. She seemed not to notice—she was deep in thought about something.

          "The Heartless… one of them _created_ them? But how is that—?" She clenched her fists in agitation. "This is getting more and more complicated as time goes by."

          "I know," he murmured, holding her close. She shrugged him off.

          "No now. The sooner we get outta here, the better." She paused. "Which gets me to this question: how did _you_ get here?"

          "Stole a Gummi ship from Cid. Totaled it, too." When she wrinkled her nose and screwed up her face in disgust, he added, "Sorry."

          "No problem. There's other ways to get back. I think I know how, actually." Her lips curved into a sly grin.

          "Don't smile like that, yer givin' me ideas."

          "Steady, Leon. Cool yer hormones 'til we get outta here." She took off again down the halls, apparently trying to find something. "I'm gonna need you to do me a favor."

          "What's that?" He kept behind her.

          "Yer gonna have to be the only pair of eyes between us. I need you to look for a large gathering of Unknowns—not the big ones, the smaller ones—the kind that we found all the time in Traverse."

          "Um… all right," he stammered. "What for?"

          "Those are the ones they send to the different worlds. With luck, we kin get back to Traverse with them." She shuddered. "Hopefully, it'll work."

          "How will we know where they're going?" Leon asked.

          Yuffie stopped short. "Hadn't thought 'a that…"

          "Unless the only place they've been sending 'em is Traverse."

          "We can only hope."

          Doors began slamming; heavy footsteps sounded from all directions. Yuffie had been right: Unknowns gave up their search relatively quick, and were looking for her inside, now.

          "Run," Yuffie whispered.

          "What?"

          "Run!" She grabbed his hand and sped off like a bullet, getting as far away from the Unknowns as possible. Hiding was useless when there were so many—they were marching after them, trying to catch them. Now their only hope was the moat, and swimming across it.

                                                                                                  ~*~

'Nother cliffy. Sorry, guys, but my dad wants the computer, and I want to get a new chapter posted now. So I'll start on the next one once I get the computer back. Sound fair? Good. Please review!

Ellyrianna: I dunno what happened to the format, but if you want, I can email you the chapter. It looks fine to me, but maybe it's the computers. *shrug* Me no know.

REVIEW!!       


	8. Dangerous Acts

Yech. I'm not goin' outside fer a while—there's Bradford Pear blossoms all outside and they SMELL LIKE FISH. I'm not kidding. It's disgusting and even nauseating. Blergh. Anyway—here's chapter eight, just as promised.

*starts going apoplectic* If you really need that disclaimer after seven chapters of the VL harassing you about it, I'll give you a ten minute head start before I come running after you with a blunt object!

                                                                                                  ~*~

"What do you mean, 'moat'?" Leon asked as he dashed behind Yuffie. "Yer not saying we're gonna swim outta here, are you?" Unknowns were coming out of everywhere, obviously knowing of the secret passages littered around the entire fortress.

          "You betcha." She slid to a sharp stop, turned to the left, and ran again as an Unknown grabbed empty air where she had been standing. "C'mon, Leon, keep up! We gotta keep running!" She shrieked; an Unknown had gotten in front of her and grabbed her, lifting her off of her feet. She twisted, but it wrapped itself firmly around her, the shifting colors of its' body wrapping around her waist, legs, arms…

          …and it dropped her, and fell to the ground, dead. Leon stood behind where the creature had been, holding the Gunblade with two hands. They were ahead of the other Unknowns by quite a bit—good thing, too, as Yuffie was shivering on the floor, skin gone colorless where the Unknowns' body had touched her. She forced herself to get up, stumbled, and steadied. Clumsily, she took a few steps forward before walking over to Leon. She kissed him and whispered, "If we get outta this, I'll owe you for a very long time."

          "We'll survive, Yuffie." He kissed her forehead, holding her tightly.

          "Yea, bits of us," she shivered as she spoke. She gathered herself again and stood straight. "We're close to the moat. I can tell. Follow me." She took his hand again and ran. This time they reached a barred door, which led out onto a bridge that only extended a few feet.

          Yuffie, with her small size, slipped easily through the bars. Leon had a harder time. Unknowns had caught up to them and were grabbing at him. She heard him cry out: one had caught him by the leg and was dragging him back. She ran to the bars, hissed and kicked the thing aside. It tried to grab at her, but she was small and quick. She pulled Leon the rest of the way through just as the Unknown made a grab for him again.

          "We gotta hurry. They're gonna figure the door out eventually," she panted. "Quick, jump in." She pointed to the moat beneath the half-finished bridge on which they stood. He hesitated and she prodded him a little by pushing him gently. "Go!"

          "Are you sure it's safe?" He asked. "It's pink. Looks awfully dangerous." He took a step back, and Yuffie gave him another shove.

          "Go! You gotta jump! It's perfectly safe," she hissed. The Unknowns were rattling the bars and trying to get through. It wouldn't be long before they succeeded.

          "Okay, one more question." He was stalling, now. "How're we gonna get to the other side without bein' seen?"

          "Easy. We go underwater the whole way."

          Leon glanced across the moat. The distance was long—probably nearly four-hundred yards, give or take a few tens. How was he to hold his breath that long? And hadn't she nearly drowned herself trying to get across once before? "Can you hold your breath that long?"

          "Nope."

          "D'you think _I_ can?"

          "Nuh-uh."

          "Are you suicidal?"

          "Nah. This isn't even water. I 'ave no idea what the hell it is, but whatever it is, you can breathe in it. Sink like a stone, but at least ya don' hafta worry 'bout drowning." She dove off of the bridge and into the water, making no splash. She surfaced and treaded water with great difficulty, as she was no buoyant in this moat. "Jump in, quickly! 'Fore the Unknowns get here! They can't swim, so _hurry it up!"_

          He hesitated, went to jump, and hesitated again. That proved to be a mistake. He plummeted gracelessly into the moat. He surfaced and coughed up the liquid. It had a nasty, acidic taste to it.

          "Yea, I know it tastes gross. Juss breathe through yer nose so you don' have to get any in yer mouth." With that, she disappeared beneath the surface.

          He followed her, not questioning her observations anymore. She was right—he sank in the liquid and it took a bit of energy to keep from sinking completely. He took a chance and opened his eyes, surprised to note that his vision was crystal clear, as though he was on land. Yuffie seemed to have adapted an effective way of swimming and keeping up off of the bottom: moving her entire body like a whale would. Every so often she would propel herself forward with her hands, but for the most part she kept them on the bottom, rifling along. She knew where she was going, it seemed.

          The water got dark as they went under something that covered the surface. After a few minutes of swimming through this, Yuffie launched herself off of the bottom and swam on a diagonal to the surface as Leon followed. He surfaced a minute after she did. He wiped his face with his hands and looked around. It was a hidden cavern. How'd she find it?

          "Can you find a shore anywhere in here?" She asked. This was the first time she had asked for his help since he found her and she'd asked him to unbind her hands. He glanced around until he found a stone shore.

          "Yea, off this way." He began to swim for the rocks, but Yuffie whimpered behind him. He'd forgotten that she couldn't see where he was. He tugged her arm, indicating which direction to go. With effort, she followed him. He was the first to get up onto the shore. Yuffie struggled, slipping once and nearly sinking. Leon caught her by the arms and hoisted her up. Instead of supporting herself on the bank, she collapsed onto him.

          "Sorry," she said, voice quiet. She rolled off of him and pushed herself into sitting position. She had obviously worn down considerably, but was fighting it. She tried to make herself stand, only to have her knees give out and she fell. Leon caught her and made her sit back down.

          "You're tired," he told her. "Stay there for a while. At least get your breath back. It took a lot to swim in that stuff. Whatever it is." He glanced down into the thick pink liquid. He hoped passionately that Yuffie was right and that the Unknowns _couldn't_ swim, but he wasn't sure of it. "So… why, exactly, are we here?"

          Yuffie was quiet for a minute, panting, until she answered. "This is where the Unknowns go—the littler ones. I think this is how they get to other worlds."

          He swallowed hard. Yuffie suddenly put her hands on the ground. She clenched her eyes shut tighter. A few seconds later, there was a low rumble heard, and the ground was quaking slightly, growing ever more steady.

          "Not again," she whispered. She struggled to her feet and made her way clumsily to the shore, about to jump. Leon grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back towards him.

          "What d'you think yer _doing?"_ He demanded, frowning at her.

          "Unknowns are coming. Our best bet for safety is the water—or whatever it is." She tried to go forward to get back in, but he hadn't let her go. She turned towards him and planted her fists on her hips.

          "You're tired. I think maybe you should stay on the surface." He looked in the direction of a great deal of noise. It was a tunnel on the other side, one that led upward, and had probably come down from the fortress. A much shorter route, but one that would most likely have been dangerous to take.

          Unknowns appeared, and with them, Disarray and Discord. Leon voice a quiet, "Uh-oh." Yuffie began to shiver. The harness was burning her again, and she scratched at it, only making it worse.

          "Get them!" Disarray pointed at them, and one Unknown moved forward, immediately sinking in the liquid. The spot where it had fallen began to bubble, as though it was boiling. Then the liquid shifted colors, like the skin of the Unknowns themselves did, and then it stilled and stopped.

          "They can't get them from here, Disarray, they can't swim!" Discord yelled. The huge Unknowns standing around them were making unnatural noises, like nothing that could, or _should_, exist in a natural world. Yuffie covered her ears and winced.

          "I don't care. Get them! Any way you can!" Disarray screamed at them. The ones carrying spears and javelins threw their weapons, but Leon grabbed Yuffie and ducked them. The girl grabbed one, aimed it in their general direction, and hurled it as hard as she could. It hit the wall and missed the Unknowns completely, but it diverted their attention. Disarray fumed. "You idiot things!" She gave one of them a good shove; it fell, creating a domino effect with the others. But instead of falling into the pool, they merged to create one enormous Unknown, colors shifting rapidly, evidently agitated.

          "That can't be good…" Yuffie whispered. "This doesn't sound right." She clung to Leon. "What'm I missing?"

          "You don' wanna know," he said to her, though his eyes were wide as he watched the spectacle in front of him. The giant Unknown had already engulfed a shrieking Disarray. She swore violently and still tried to command the creature even as it consumed her. It went after Discord next, and he backed up, trying to get away. He backed to the edge of the shore, missed his footing, and fell into the pool, sinking. The Unknown thrust more than half of its' body out to catch him, only to throw its' own balance off and fall into the pool as well.

          The liquid became a huge bubbling, shifting, hissing mess as the Unknown thrashed, drowned, and died. The colors shifted on the surface, getting deeper and deeper until they were gone. Yuffie lifted her head.

          "They're dead, Yuffie," Leon told her. She nodded. She had figured something had happened to them when the pain in the slave harness had stopped completely. She sighed in relief.

          "Now what?" She asked. Neither had time to say anything else. The ground quaked violently. The rocks split; stones fell from the ceiling and into the pool and almost hitting them. The entire cavern began collapsing on itself and a harsh wind began to blow. The effect was not unlike a wind tunnel. It knocked both of them over and started dragging Yuffie away, as she was the lighter of the two. This time, Leon grabbed her and held on as tightly as he could.

          "Don't let go!" He yelled over the howling winds. Debris blew in their direction. Stones, metal, and bits of broken wood and glass flew by them. Something sharp raked across his face; something extremely heavy had chosen to glance off of his shoulderblade, making the arm tingle and weaken. Various small, sharp fragments tore at them. One ripped one leather strap holding the slave harness to Yuffie.

          The wind got even stronger, dragging them _both_ along. It took them to a dark hole, and Leon struggled against it, but it was no use—they were headed for it whether they liked it or not. Yuffie made a grab for anything that might have kept them from falling, but only cut her palm. She shrieked as they were dragged away, into darkness.

                                                                                                  ~*~

Wow. Two chapters in one day. I'm on a roll! ^_~ Anyway—you know the drill. Read and review and I'll add more chapters as soon as I can. Okay? Okay. The next one will most likely be the last. But it'll be fluffy, and if I do, indeed, decide to make it the last chapter, it'll be long, kay? An' I'll probably write a one-shot pointless fluff fic, too. Just because. Hey, it's spring break! I reached an all-time low on the Boredom Meter yesterday. I went up to my bedroom and began teaching myself how to conjugate Latin verbs. Man, I have no life.        


	9. Homecoming

I hate writers block. I really do. I mean _really._ And, unfortunately, I have it now, but I'll break out the Writers Termites and try and cure it as I go, because you've been patient and I owe you this chapter. I'll make it as long as possible to make it up to you since you've been so nice about having to wait.

If you have not yet figured out this disclaimer, keep in mind that the only reason I have not committed homicide yet is because the penalty for doing so is death. *twitch*

                                                                                                   ~*~

The doors into Traverse Town opened, blowing a huge amount of rocks, metal fragments, glass shards, wood, and other unidentifiable matter into the streets. The wind that came with it was hard—enough so that it caused people to fall over, and a streetlamp fell down, bulb shattering on the stone.

          Two limp-looking figures blew with it, getting blown into the side of a building and assaulted by the debris that was blown in. The larger of the two protected the smaller one, looming over it. Finally, the doors closed, stopping the wind _and_ the debris.

          The streets were a mess, littered with so much rubble that it was nearly impossible to get from one place to another. Cloud, wielding his sword, crept out of his hiding place behind some crates. He looked around cautiously for any sign of the Unknowns that he thought had blown in. To his relief, there were none.

          "Cid, c'mon out here and take a look at this," he called. The pilot unfolded himself and stood, groaning from being cramped in a small hiding place for so long. Cloud had lowered his weapon, so he assumed that everything was safe—or relatively so.

          "What is it?" He asked, looking where he did. He saw the two lumps starting to stir and took a step back. "I'm not goin' over there."

          "Those aren't Unknowns. Whatever they are, they're definitely not dangerous—or, at least, if they _are,_ they're too hurt to act like it." He made his way to the building that the figures had smashed into and had not moved from since. As he neared them, the smaller one turned in his direction, followed by the larger. They were saying something to one another, but he couldn't hear it.

          The larger figure stood, or tried to, and leaned against the wall. There was a glint of metal as two familiar objects caught his eye—a silver pendant of a lion's head, and the Gunblade. Leon. He looked down at his companion, who still had not moved and nudged it. It didn't move.

          "Squall?" Cloud asked, confused, as he got closer.

          "Cloud, get some help, she's out cold," Leon said. He bent to lift Yuffie up, but almost stumbled and fell himself. Cloud now saw them both clearly—and they were both in bad shape.

          "Cid! Aerith, get over here! I'm gonna need some help!" He rused over and picked Yuffie up. She was limp and still bleeding from many wounds. Cid ran over; hard on his heels, Aerith came and gasped upon seeing the sight. "Cid, Help Squall, he can hardly stand up. Lets get 'em both back to the hotel."

          "I kin stand," Leon muttered, falling over as he said so. Cid draped one of his arms over his shoulder so he could have something to lean on. He still walked clumsily, barely keeping himself conscious.

          "I'm sure you can," the older man said sarcastically. He nearly had to carry Leon all the way into the hotel. Once they had gotten into the Red Room, he plunked him down into a chair. He immediately struggled to his feet.

          "I'm fine, I kin stand," he said again. He stayed silent and upright for a while, watching as Cloud put Yuffie gently down on the bed. He started teetering, and he held his arms out some to regain his balance. "Is she gonna be all right?"

          "I think—but I have to deal with her first. She's in bad shape," Aerith said, inspecting the unconscious girl. She cleaned off her cuts and wounds, a few of which still bled.

          "And he's _not?"_ Cid spat, indicating Leon, who was still struggling with his balance.

          "I'm _fine,"_ he tried to reassure them once again. He emphasized his point by immediately falling forward after he finished his sentence. Cloud hurled forward and caught him before he hit the ground. "Did that on purpose…" he murmured and he began to slip out of consciousness. Cloud slung his over his shoulder like a rug.

          "I'll go put him in his room," he said. "Will _he_ be all right, Aerith?"

          She looked up from her work. "A Hi-Potion or two should hold him over until I can get to him. Yuffie's in worse shape than I thought. If she loses any more blood, we could be in real trouble, and some of these wounds aren't stopping bleeding." She sighed and looked down at her friend. "I hope it's not too late…"

          "Ah, geez…" Cid muttered. "Anything I can do?"

          "Yes, actually," Aerith said. "I need a _lot_ of bandages and surgical tape, and also a pair of scissors and a _really_ sharp knife—or else just the knife."

          "A knife? What's _that_ for?" He asked, confused. She showed him where the pendant had fused to her skin and would have to be cut off. Curgra would cover most of the wounds, but they were inflicted by Unknowns, and the wounds they gave rarely healed completely with just Curgra. Only the small ones did—and Yuffie's wounds were big, and still bleeding.

          A muffled yell sounded from the Green Room, along with a string of colorful words.

          "That hurt!"

          "Well, you aren't really in the best of conditions! Now siddown and let me finish before those things _kill_ you!"

          "They won't kill me—_you_ will!"

          "Squall, sit back down and let me finish or else—" there was stomping, and the connecting door flew open. An enraged Cloud burst in. "You can do it yourself!" He called back before slamming the door. He turned to Aerith, who had paused her working to stare at him. "He's impossible."

          "So I can hear," she said. She went back to work, cleaning the last of the blood and using Curgra on the worst of the injuries. They stopped bleeding, but Yuffie had lost much of her color. "Since you're in here, you can give me a hand." She was having trouble with the metal disc burned into her skin. She picked up the knife and sliced through the remaining leather strap.

          "Ouch," Cloud winced. "What _is_ that?" He went to pick it up off of her skin, but Aerith swatted his hand away.

          "Don't. It's stuck to her." She adjusted her grip on the knife and swallowed. "But… pull it up so I can cut it out with as little skin as possible." She was starting to look a little green at the thought of doing it. Cloud took the disc and picked it up. Aerith was right—it was fused into Yuffie's skin. As carefully as possible, she sliced through the skin and cut the disc off.

          Yuffie cried out in pain and tried to sit up, only to find herself feeling like lead. She twisted, having felt searing pain where the disc had once been. She opened her eyes. Aerith sat back, knocking Cloud over.

          Yuffie groaned, head pounding. That sounded familiar…

          "Yuffie?"

          She knew now. "Aerith?" She struggled to sit up, wincing as she irritated her wounds. Memory returned in a rush. "Where are we? Where's Squall? Is he all right? Is he _alive?"_ She tried to get up further, but she couldn't.

          "Yuffie—calm down. Leon's here. He's in the other room," she reassured her friend. "Relax before you hurt yourself."

          "Where is he?" She demanded. Two seconds after she spoke, her head lolled back and she was out again. Leon came charging to the door, stumbling into it as he opened it. He leaned in the doorframe for support.

          "Is she awake?" He asked hopefully.

          "You just missed 'er," Cloud said. "But I dun think you'd've wanted to see her. Her eyes are glazed. I don't think she can see."

          "You thought right, Cloud," Leon said as he stumbled over the floorboards he tripped and caught himself on the table. "She's blind, but she still dun miss a thing." He poured a Hi-Potion down his throat and winced at its' taste. His wounds began cleaning themselves up, though not very well.

          "When did it happen? _How_ did it happen?" Aerith asked.

          "I dunno," he said with a shrug. He began to fall forward again, but he grabbed the doorframe and kept himself from keeling over. "I don't think she does either."

          "Great," she muttered. She turned to Cloud and Leon. "You guys turn away for a minute. I have to bandage her up, especially this big one," she pointed to the round, bloody spot left by the slave harness.

          "Why—?" Leon began, but Aerith cut him off.

          "Just do it."

          With a shrug, Leon turned—or tried to. As soon as he was facing the other way, he fell backward. Cloud caught him again. "I coulda caught myself, you know…" he muttered.

          "I'm sure," Cloud said, carrying him _back_ to his own room.

          Aerith peeled the shirt off of Yuffie and wrapped most of her torso tightly in thick bandages. She replaced her shirt and covered her with a blanket. She went to the Green Room door and peeked inside. Cloud was about to leave; Leon was asleep on his stomach on the bed.

          "Is Yuffie all right?" Cloud whispered when he saw her. She nodded.

          "I used Curgra on her eyes to see if maybe they'd get better—but I can't be sure since I don't know how or why or when it happened." She sighed. "C'mon. Lets leave them alone." They left the hotel together quietly and slipped into Cid's shop.

          "How're they doin'?" He asked as they walked in.

          "Asleep," Aerith told him. "Yuffie's better. Much better. Except—" she swallowed hard. "She's been blinded. And we don't know anything beyond that."

          Cid thought for a minute. "Did you try asking Squall?"

          "Yes. He said that he doesn't know how it happened. He also said that _she_ doesn't know how it happened, either." She sighed. "Curgra doesn't work on it. I doubt it will even work once I've regained all of my magic. I only hope it's curable."

          "It probably is," Cid mused. "There's a kind of optetoxin [A/N: Latin crossover of words. "Opto" meaning "eye" and "toxin" means "poison."] that blinds its' victims over a period of time… if it's untended for long enough, it becomes permanent, but it's curable otherwise…" he clicked his teeth.

          "So yer saying that she has a chance?" Cloud asked.

          "Yep." He scratched the back of his head. "Now—she's been gone, now, for about… five days, right?"

          "I think so," Aerith said.

          "That gives us 'bout thirty-six hours to find out if this is curable 'fore it's permanent. Yeesh. Not a lotta time."

          "So let's go!" Aerith started marching out the door again. "Hold on. Cid, can you come with me? I have no idea what I'm doing."

          "I don', either," he said as he followed her. Yuffie was sleeping peacefully in the Red Room, still. Her color was slowly coming back to her and her breathing was deeper than it had been. She was slowly recovering.

          "Do you know where to start?" Aerith asked.

          "No, not really," he whispered, looking down at the sleeping girl. "Take a little blood first just to see if it _is_ an optetoxin, not something else. If it is, I can probably find an anti-toxin for it."

          "How long'll that take?" Cloud asked.

          "I dunno." He looked down at Yuffie and back up at Cloud and Aerith. "Hopefully not long. I don't know how much longer she has left." There was anxiety in his voice as he spoke—not a good thing, especially when coming from Cid.

          "What'd'you mean by that?" Leon had dragged himself back into the connecting doorway. He was barely holding himself up and his legs trembled, about to give under him at any moment. "She'd better be all right." He threatened, sounding a great deal less than well himself.

          "Leon, go back to bed!" Aerith yelled. It wasn't like her to raise her voice at anyone—let alone yell. Leon stumbled backward from the shock of her reaction.

          "Why?" He asked, sounding like a toddler who was questioning everything everyone told him just out of spite. He stumbled into the room and collapsed into a chair, becoming more like a liquid than a solid. "I'm not movin'."

          Cloud walked over to send him _back_ into his own room when Cid interrupted. "If he keeps comin' back, then juss let 'im stay. He cares 'bout the girl, so it's only right. You'd wanna stay with Aerith if _she_ was like this, right?" He asked Cloud. When the soldier didn't answer, he stood and left the room, saying, "I'll be right back."

          "Where'z he think _he's_ goin'?" Leon asked, watching Cid leave. He started sliding out of the chair and didn't bother pulling himself back up. Either he didn't have the strength to, or he was comfortable where he was, but in the position he was in, it was more likely that he didn't have the strength to do it. Cloud hoisted him up by his jacket and plunked him back in the chair. He promptly slid out again, boneless. This went on a few more times before Cloud set him on the floor. "Thankz a million," he slurred, head falling back onto the seat of the chair.

          Cid returned, carrying a box under one arm. Without saying anything, he opened it and retrieved a syringe. Aerith winced. Cid drew only about a tablespoon of blood from Yuffie's arm, having found out that she had lost a lot of blood from her injuries already. Both Aerith and Cloud watched him curiously as he added something to the blood and shook it. In a matter of seconds, it began to shift colors. Then it settled staying green.

          "Yuk," Cloud murmured when he saw it. Aerith tilted her head, unsure of _what_ to think. Cid seemed relieved.

          "Good. I think," he said. "This is the poison I thought it was, and we have just over twenty-four hours to find an anti-toxin for it." He sighed. "Now the question is _how_ in hell we find an anti-toxin for it."

          "Why not juss find her blood type an' hope that a healthy unit of blood knocks off the contaminated DNA?" [A/N: I'm not a doctor. Bear with me; it's the best I could come up with. I'm only in tenth grade, fer cryin' out loud.]

          They looked at each other to see if one of them had spoken. The voice came from Leon's direction again.

          "I said it. I'd look at ya, but I can't lift my head." He was still staring at the ceiling. "Kin ya still find 'er blood type even with that stuff in it?"

          "Or we could check her medical files," Aerith said.

          "They're in the box somewhere," Cid said. "Everyone's are."

          She rifled through the box, looking for Yuffie's. Hers was at the bottom of the stack, thus the hardest to reach. "Of course…" she muttered. She pulled it out and flipped through the papers, scanning them until she found the needed information. Then she looked at everyone else's papers to see who's blood matched hers—if anyone's. When she saw, she winced.

          "What is it?" Cloud asked. She showed him the papers she held. He looked at Leon, and back at the papers, and then back at Leon again. "You're sure?"

          "Yes."

          "Anyone match her?" Cid asked.

          "Only Squall," Aerith said quietly.

          "Shit. Well, is he out?"

          "No, I'm not. I can hear everything yer sayin' 'bout me." Now he _did_ lift his head. Cid found another syringe and walked over to the half-conscious man. Leon drew one arm out of his jacket. "Just do it," he murmured. He looked away as Cid drew blood. When he thought he was done, he looked back. He wasn't done. Leon fainted. [A/N: Yes, Leon/Squall can be nauseous around blood—or just his own. I'm just as bad with having blood drawn. I can deal with flesh wounds and severed limbs, but I can't see my own blood come out of my body through a syringe. It's not natural. I pass out.]

          "Well, that was a success," he said, staring at the now completely unconscious man on the floor. He left him there, moving over to where Yuffie lay, also out cold. "Well, here goes."

Voices were murmuring, incoherent, having a conversation with one another. Her head pounded and she felt like a large truck had backed her over repeatedly. But on the whole, Yuffie would have said she felt fine—if she had the ability to speak. But as of then, she couldn't. Her throat hurt. But at least she knew where she was, and that Leon was alive and well. She fell back asleep again.

          Later on, she was awakened by something falling over, but not hitting the ground. It sounded like wood. Someone walked around to her side—it sounded like someone very light. Obviously not Leon. She opened her eyes, only to slam them shut immediately.

          "Aurg! Aerith, shut that light off!" She threw her arms over her face as she waited of the burning to stop. "Wait—light. Aerith?" She sat up, eyes closed, but head turned in the direction that the Flower Girl stood. "What's going on? Am I dreaming? _Was_ I dreaming? Where's Squall? And whose room am I in?"

          "One question at a time!" Aerith sat at the edge of the bed, one hand on Yuffie's forehead to check her temperature—normal. "Cid found a cure for the poison. Whatever it was had an anti-toxin—really it was just blood. You're not dreaming, you're awake. Leon is in the Waterway trying to swing that stupid weapon around again, and you're in your own room." She took a deep breath. "Satisfied?"

          Yuffie shook her head. "What was the anti-toxin?"

          "I said—it was blood. We found a donor."

          "Who?"

          "Leon."

          Yuffie was silent for a long time. "When can I see him?"

          Aerith sighed heavily. "All right, all right. I'll go find him." She stood, but Yuffie took hold of her sleeve. When she looked back, the ninja hugged her tightly.

          "Thank you," she whispered. She released her and sat back, leaning on the pillows. She started falling asleep, realizing that she was half-listening for guards or Unknowns, and ready to spring and run at a moment's notice.

          A door slammed outside; someone came stampeding down the hall, trying to stop, and tumbling to the ground. A familiar voice grumbled, "Ow," before there were more stampeding steps and the door flew open. Just as she thought: it was Leon.

          "D'you run all the way here?" Yuffie asked, hearing him pant. She opened her eyes, and clenched them shut again. She rubbed them.

          "Yea," he panted. "Aerith told me you wanted to see me…?" He asked, trailing off. She nodded, and he sat down next to her. She launched herself at him and hugged him, head against his chest.

          "Thank you," she whispered. She made herself open her eyes and adjust to the light. It felt weird, being able to see again after having to adapt to life without her sight. Everything was a little fuzzy still, but she could see. She leaned back and tried to get a good view of Leon's face. He saw her before she got a clear view of him.

          "Yuffie…" he stared down at her, looking into her eyes. "Can you see?"

          She nodded. "A little blurry. But I can see." She brought herself close to him. "Better up closer," she whispered.

          "Good," he whispered back. "The closer the better." He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled away and kissed down her neck, her shoulder… he tugged at the front of her shirt. She gasped and pushed away, left arm crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry," Leon said hastily. She shook her head.

          "Scar," she choked out. It took a minute for him to figure out what she meant—the mark where the slave harness had been sliced off of her skin. "Damn," she hissed. He dragged his fingers across the bare skin of her stomach. She squeaked and wriggled away from it, but his arm kept her from going far.

          "No you don't," he whispered. "You're not going far from _me."_ He nuzzled her cheek.

          "I'm not?"

          "Nuh-uh."

          "You won't let me?" She curled her arms around his neck.

          "Nope."

          She leaned forward and whispered, "Good."

          A while later, Aerith entered the room, starting to ask, "Yuffie, is Leon in here with—" she saw Leon asleep, leaning on the wall, with Yuffie's head resting in his lap. One of his hands rested on her back; the other was twined with hers. Aerith suppressed a smile and backed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her as she turned.

          Inside, Yuffie opened one eye and looked around the room. Leon ran a hand through her hair.

          "She gone?" He asked.

          "Yup." She sat upright.

          "Good." He slid his arms beneath her and laid her on her back. "Now where were we?…"

                                                                                                   ~*~

_Some of us fall by the wayside,_

_And some of us fall through the stars;_

_And some of us sail through out troubles—_

_And some have to live with the scars._

          —"The Circle of Life" sung by Elton John

                                                                                                             ~*~

El fin. The end. Not as fluffy as I would have liked it to be, even as the author, but I couldn't squeeze it in anywhere without doing something dumb. So I'm just leaving it like this. I hope you liked—please be nice and review!

Oh, by the way—check out my fic "Other Halves." And then keep checking back over the course of the next week or so, cuz I'm adding more to it. (An' you din' think that was possible, did you?)

—the VL       


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